Microsoft Opens Up Minecraft For AI Testing

Microsoft is to use Minecraft, the popular game whose parent company it acquired in 2014, as a testing ground for training next-generation artificial intelligence (AI). The Windows maker said its Cambridge lab has developed a program called AIX that allows artificial intelligence software to interact with the complex world of the game, and plans to release this work under an open source licence later this year. ‘General intelligence’ While most artificial intelligences today are only capable of carrying out limited, precisely defined tasks, such as mastering a particular game, Microsoft said Minecraft could be used to train AIs that have something approaching the general awareness and learning ability of a human being. “Minecraft is the perfect platform for this kind of research because it’s this very open world,” said Katja Hofmann, who…